Recent trip to Ypres

S

sandar

Guest
I have recently just returned from a trip to the Ypres area. We stayed in Talbot House, Poperinge, where my Great Uncle visited in 1917 a few weeks before he was killed in the fighting around Zillebeke and Hill 60.

I have to say, the British and Commonwealth war cemeteries are beautifully maintained, but stark reminders of the massive cost in human life. The cemetery where my Great Uncle is buried has about 5,500 graves and is nowhere near the biggest of about 150 Commonwealth cemeteries. That dubious honour falls to Tyne Cot near the village of Paschendaele. There are over 12000 graves here, On top of that, there are 35,000 names on a commemorative memorial to the missing. All of these soldiers died after the middle of August 1917. One of them was my father's cousin.

The Menin Gate at Ypres has 55,000 names of those who have no known grave and who died before the middle of August 1917. There are two more memorial to the missing elsewhere in the salient with a further 11000 names. Another relative of mine is commemorated on this incredible memorial. The Last Post ceremony, held every evening under the Gate, was one of the most moving things I have ever witnessed.

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If I have succeeded in posting a picture, it is of the cemetery at Tyne Cot
 
It's quite a site, isn't it. I went through Arras, Albert, Beaumont, Vimy Ridge, and countless other cemeteries on my trip. It really humbles you to think about the countless lives lost in that conflict. All of which was based on agreements between countries... and started with one shot.

Kinda makes you sick, doesn't it...

Here's some shots for you guys to see. I hope all of you can someday visit Flanders and the Somme regions. It's a life-changing experience.

CMH Winner at the American Cemetery... ahem.... kindly note the state.... Neu Yawk... ;) Good boy!!
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OvS stops by Jasta 5's house for a 'chat'... unfortunately, the wouldn't let me in... mean dogs..!!!!

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Theipval
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Vimy Ridge 'Mother Mary'
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One of MANY small British cemeteries. This on was inside the Vimy Ridge monument park. We stopped here to eat some bread and cheese from Arras. It was the first of many stops that day... and I mean MANY.
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I could post more, but it's depressing... it's more of the same... cemeteries... after cemeteries... after... etc. Sometime I wish countries would setting differences by letting the leaders beat the hell out of each other.

OvS
 
What gets me is that we, several lifetimes away, get so emotional at the impact of the cemeteries and battlefields of Flanders, yet it was not enough to prevent WW11. sigh.
 
Here's what the Boistrancourt airfield looked like in 2004, on the other side of the chateau grounds:

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The sugar factory smokestack and observation tower are gone, as are the hangars, natch, but still an awesome visit. In the first shot, note the slope down toward where Hangar 1 used to be. Takeoffs away from the hangars were uphill.
 
BFM,

I saw these shots you posted on the Jasta 5 site. I was standing next to the wall that you see in your photos. when I turned the corner to look at the field, it was all cultivated, and dug-up. I wanted to take a shot, and spend more time, but unless I had deep mud boots on, I was going nowhere. :(

The house is still there, but you can't get on the grounds. I scaled the wall successfully next to that sign and looked. Two very large dogs were patrolling the grounds, spotted me and went ballistic!!

I then went to the front, stood up and took that shot of the house. Unfortunately, everything is totally overgrown.

I drove up the road, and went into the lot of the Sugar Factory, spent a little time there, then left the little town. I was surprised how small it was. My wife was in a rush to get on the main road as we were on our way to Belguim. So I didn't have the time to spend like I wanted to. I want to go back again... soon.

OvS
 
I forgot all about those shots on the Jasta 5 site--never could get that #$*%*#ing RB3D to load properly, despite the valiant efforts of the J5 guys.

When I was there the fields were plowed except for a little strip of corn next to and along the southwest wall. I was going to cut around it and trudge through the plowed furrows to get on the other side of the chateau grounds, mud be damned, but then I saw several spent shotgun shells on the ground and decided that it wouldn't be the best idea in the world for an American to be trudging through a French farmer's field (that's a bad idea for an American in a US farmer's field!). So, instead I cut between the corn and the chateau wall--huge mistake! I had to squeeze between the stalks and the wall and then about halfway in the wall was covered in some sort of flowering vines that were buzzing with hundreds of bees. I had to crawl under the vines, shoo away the bees and avoid the mud. I was huffing and puffing by the time I reached the corner of the wall and beheld the airfield.

You are right--it's out in the middle of nowhere. I thought it desolate in 2004; imagine 1917? I was struck most by the wind through the leaves. It was a very lonely sound and something history books and photos can't capture.

Never even occured to me to traipse around the factory or scale the wall! I'm glad you posted those shots because I couldn't see the chateau at all.
 
By the sounds of it, you were there in the summer? I went in February, so there were less leaves.

It was sad though, the front of the Chateau was completely under lock-down, you couldn't get in there if you tried. And the house looks as if it was in dis-repair. As if someone really old was living there.

From what I could see, it was over-grown all around the grounds, and the front had changed. I could not see that big rotund entrance that appears on the J5 webiste. The roofline changed as well. It looks as if there was some expansion to the house, or maybe at one time the roof was replaced. In the picture, the roof line is more slanted, in my picture, it is more 'victorian' looking with less slant.

It's the same place though. You can tell by the marble window dressings.

I wish I could have walked on the grounds though. I think it's one of the only places left from WWI where you can actually see where the Germans lived.

OvS
 
Here's a shot I took a few years back of the chateau at Cappy...
Shredward
 
Excellent! I didn't look at the chateau there so thanks for posting that.
 
Anyone else have any Chateau pics we can drool over?

Next time I go I'm going to spend a lot more time in the area. I'd like to find the crash site of the Red Baron, as I've heard it's still the same.

OvS
 
Here is pic of the most important house to the British Tommies in Flanders. Talbot House, or in signalese Toc H, Poperinge.

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Great shot!

Here's where MvRichthofen crashed his Fokker E.III in June, 1916:


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(Sorry about the watermark, this is the only version I have uploaded.) Location is Mont-Bonvillers, France. Often sighted as being in Murville, but Murville is a couple kms away.

The oft-seen Castle de Bethune at Marckebeke:

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Roucourt airfield:

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Again, scene of the famous Jasta 11 Alb lineup:

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I have shots of MvR's 21 April 1918 KiA field, but not uploaded. I'll put one up here if nobody else does.
 
ovs said:
Anyone else have any Chateau pics we can drool over?
Next time I go I'm going to spend a lot more time in the area. I'd like to find the crash site of the Red Baron, as I've heard it's still the same.
OvS
Click to expand...

The crash site is just upriver from Cappy, maybe five minutes drive if I remember right. Here's a photo. The brickworks is still there, although it's been rebuilt.
Cheers,
shredward
 
Ghostly......amazing how little the areas seem to have changed. Unfortunately in the US, these areas would have bulldozed and McMansions would have been built. Oh well, we are paying the price now.
 
They're wonderfully evocative photos aren't they. Maybe we should have a sticky exclusively for pics like these of all WW1 related airfields, chateaus, places of interest etc as they look today.

As a young man I did the mandatory Aussie "rite of passage" one-way working holiday to France/Europe/UK in Jan 1980 and stayed until mid 1981 (took me that long to save up for a return airfare lol). Almost got to NY too with Freddie Laker's cheap 50 pound airfares ... but unfortunately no cigar.

But youth is wasted on the young and I off course proceeded to root/drink my way across Europe. As you do. To my eternal shame I don't recall visiting any WW1 sites. But then I was blotto most of the time so maybe I did ?

These photo's recall a sadly missed opportunity on my behalf :kilroy:
 
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